PROSPECT – A Veazie company will conduct the major blasting for a new Route 1 approach on the western side of the bridge across the Penobscot River that will replace the Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

The Maine Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that it has awarded the $3,297,000 contract for the blasting to Lou Silver Inc. The company was the low bidder for the project, which will include blasting, excavation and construction services for the new approach to the replacement bridge.

Bids on the project from a total of seven contractors ranged from $3,297,000 to $4,088,276.

Plans call for the removal of approximately 340,000 tons of rock from existing ledge to allow for the rerouting of Route 1 as it approaches the bridge. The new section of Route 1 will curve gently to the left to a point approximately 150 feet to the west of existing Route 1 in Prospect before joining the bridge near a new junction with Route 174, according to project engineer Tom Doe.

The contract price may allow the department to remove a little more rock to improve sight lines. That would cost an additional $125,000; department officials will make a decision about it soon.

The department plans to use the same blasting techniques and standards that were used successfully last spring in leveling the west pylon site, Doe said.

“We continue to use the utmost caution so as to not damage any of the adjacent properties, with particular care as to the Fort Knox infrastructure.”

The contract also includes the start of work to create a new access road within Fort Knox that will lead from the fort’s existing parking lot to a new parking area next to the western pylon of the new bridge. This will provide public access to the planned observatory that will be located atop the 420-foot pylon tower.

Visitors to the fort also will be able to walk to the observatory from the fort on a new pathway to be built later. “We’ll be using some of the ledge material as the base of the new road and parking area,” Doe said in a prepared release. “Although it will be two more years before the bridge and observatory are completed, it makes sense to begin construction of the new road and parking area now.”

DOT is working with the Maine Department of Conservation and the Friends of Fort Knox to develop the parking and landscaping plan for the fort.

Work on the new approach will begin after Labor Day. Although the contract allows for work to continue into early 2006, the contractor plans to complete the project around Labor Day 2005, he said.

The department expects minimal impact on traffic during the new road construction, Doe said, although, for safety reasons, crews will stop traffic in both directions during blasting. Traffic southbound on Route 1 will be stopped on Verona Island, not on the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, he said.

The department decided to construct a new bridge after determining that the main cables on the existing 73-year-old bridge had deteriorated to the point where it was not feasible to replace or repair them. DOT officials initially placed weight restrictions on the bridge, but a separate project last year added support cables to the old bridge allowing the department to bring the weight limit up to 80,000 pounds.

Plans call for the new bridge to be completed by the fall of 2006.